By now it’s pretty widely-known that WWE contracts are drafted in a fantasy world and can easily be torn to shreds by anybody with the money and/or guts to take the company to court. Brock Lesnar did it, CM Punk did it, Alberto Del Rio did it and I’m sure many more will do it in the future.
The main issue with the contracts is the no-compete clause included in all of them, which basically states that wrestlers can’t work for any company WWE considers competition for a certain period after they leave the company. Unfortunately for WWE, as CM Punk eloquently laid out in his recent podcast appearances, all WWE wrestling talent are independent contractors, and you can’t control what an independent contractor does when they’re no longer in your employ. The are, by definition, independent. So far the law has unanimously agreed.
So, now that WWE’s no-compete clauses have been thoroughly outed as not worth the paper they’re printed on, is the company going to pursue a more fair, nuanced approach? Nooooo, instead WWE is doubling down and loading up their contracts with even more dubious fine print – new WWE contracts now contain a whopping one-year no-compete clause that covers both wrestling and MMA. Also, if a performer is fired for disciplinary reasons, they forfeit all merchandise rights.
These new contracts will be laughed right out of court, but I guess WWE would rather maintain the illusion of control than give their guys a fair shake. Of course WWE could probably clear up a lot of these problems if they made their wrestlers real employees instead of independent contractors, which would…snnrk, haha, sorry couldn’t even finish that thought.
via Wrestling Inc.
